The invention relates generally to photography, and in particular to cameras including a mode indicator such as a flash ready light.
General
Film and cameras that are all in one, commonly referred to as disposable single-use or one-time-use cameras, have become well known. The one-time-use camera is a simple point-and-shoot type camera comprising a conventional film cartridge within a cartridge receiving chamber in a main body part, an unexposed film roll prewound from the film cartridge onto a film supply spool within a film supply chamber in the main body part, a film-exposing chamber between the cartridge receiving and film supply chambers in the main body part, a fixed-focus taking lens, a manually rotatable film winding thumbwheel coaxially engaged with a film winding spool inside the film cartridge, a single-blade shutter, a manually depressible shutter release button, a frame counter wheel that has a scale of decreasing frame count numbers and is incrementally rotated to successively view each frame count number, an anti-backup pawl that engages the frame counter wheel to prevent its reverse rotation, a direct see-through viewfinder having front and rear viewfinder lenses, and in some models an electronic flash. A pair of separate front and rear cover parts house the main body part between them to complete the camera. The rear cover part connects to the main body part and/or to the front cover part to make the main body part light-tight. Front and rear cover labels (or a decorative cardboard outer box) at least partially cover the front and rear cover parts and have separate openings for the taking lens, the front and rear viewfinder lenses, etc.
To take a picture, the shutter release button is manually depressed. This causes a spring-urged high-energy lever to be released to strike the shutter blade, which then pivots open to uncover an exposure aperture. A return spring connected to the shutter blade pivots the shutter blade closed to re-cover the exposure aperture. Also, a metering lever is pivoted out of spring-biased engagement with the thumbwheel in order to permit manual rotation of the thumbwheel in the film winding direction after the picture is taken. When the thumbwheel is rotated in a film winding direction, it similarly rotates the film winding spool inside the film cartridge to wind an exposed frame of the filmstrip from across the exposure chamber to inside the film cartridge and to advance an unexposed frame of the filmstrip from the unexposed film roll to across the exposure chamber. The rewinding movement of the filmstrip the equivalent of slightly more than one frame width rotates a metering sprocket in engagement with successive perforations in the filmstrip, to in turn incrementally rotate the frame counter wheel to view its next lower frame count number. Also, the high energy lever is re-cocked or re-set and the metering lever is pivoted into re-engagement with the thumbwheel. When the metering lever re-engages the thumbwheel, further manual rotation of the thumbwheel in the film winding direction is prevented and the camera is ready to take another picture.
When the maximum number of frames available on the filmstrip have been exposed and the filmstrip is completely wound into the film cartridge, the one-time-use camera is given to a photofinisher who breaks away a cover door portion of the car cover part from the main body part and removes the film cartridge with the exposed filmstrip from the cartridge receiving chamber. Then, he removes the exposed filmstrip from the film cartridge to develop the latent images and make prints for the customer. At least some of the camera parts may be recycled, i.e. reused, to remanufacture another camera.
Prior Art Problem
It is advantageous to recycle a used flash circuit board, when practical, for inclusion in a remanufactured camera because of the initial cost of the flash circuit board.
The problem exists, however, that flash ready lights may be at slightly different sites on otherwise similar flash circuit boards. This is due in part from the fact that one flash ready light may be a neon light and another flash ready light may be a light-emitting diode. Thus, a remanufactured camera may only be able to include a recycled flash circuit board that was originally in that camera.
Generally, according to the invention, a camera comprises:
a support adapted to hold a mode indicator at any one of at least two different locations in order to enable the mode indicator to be alternatively positioned at the respective locations;
a part having separate openings aligned with the respective locations at which the mode indicator can be alternatively positioned; and
a cover covering each of the openings in the part except the opening aligned with the location at which the mode indicator is positioned, to allow the mode indicator to be sensed via that opening.
More specifically, according to the invention, a flash camera comprises:
a main body part adapted to support a flash circuit board having a flash ready light at either one of two alternative sites on the flash circuit board, so that the flash ready light is positioned in either one of two different locations when the flash circuit board is supported on the main body part;
individual light pipes optically aligned with the respective locations at which the flash ready light can be positioned on the main body part, to transmit light from the flash ready light regardless of which location it is positioned;
a rear cover part having respective openings aligned with the light pipes; and
a cover label on the rear cover part concealing each of the openings in the rear cover part except the opening aligned with the light pipe aligned with the location at which the flash ready light is positioned, to allow the flash ready light to be sensed via that opening.
Therefore, the camera according to the invention (as compared to one in the prior art) is not limited, when remanufactured, to a recycled flash circuit board that was originally in the camera.